


Hesstess

by Mnemmy



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ancient Greece, F/M, Gorgon!Jennifer, Mild descriptions of violence, gorgons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 04:25:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1027202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mnemmy/pseuds/Mnemmy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Most know not to approach the cave she calls home. She never means to hurt anyone, it simply happens when they look at her. Jennifer hurries inside to hide, lest a shipwreck be added to the tally of her sins.</p><p>----</p><p>Jennifer was cursed to become a Gorgon centuries ago for a crime she did not commit. Will Derek be able to help break her curse? Or will he become a statue like everyone else who has dared set eyes on her monstrous form?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hesstess

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt by the lovely [sgtjbarnes](http://sgtjbarnes.tumblr.com/) who asked for a medusa!Jennifer fic. I changed Deucalion's name to Duke so that there would be no confusing him with the actual Deucalion of Greek legend.
> 
> Unbetaed, so all mistakes are my own.
> 
> Fic title comes from a medusa boss in Dungeons and Dragons Online. (If you ever face her, drag her to a hidden mirror on the right side of the room, she'll stun herself with her medusa stare and it makes the fight a LOT easier!)

Jennifer lives by the sea. She's lived by it for many, many years. Her mortality was taken from her, along with her face. Her once lovely face that was scratched and scarred and broken before she was dragged by the hair. By Kali, once her most trusted friend, her alpha, her leader. Dragged to the feet of Kali's husband, Ennis, as he sat at Athena's shrine. There she was kicked and the words 'she isn't pretty enough for you to call her name in bed now, is she' were spat from Kali's mouth. As Ennis followed Kali in shame, the shrine of Athena lit and power flowed from it, but any hope Jennifer had of aid was quickly lost. Instead, she was cursed into the form of a Gorgon, a woman so hideous that all who would lay eyes on her would turn to stone. She'd never so much as touched Ennis, and had never wanted to.

Two hundred years have passed since that day, and Jennifer has only seen her face reflected in the pools of the cave she calls home. Her skin is covered in scales, small horned ridges where her brows had been. Her blue eyes now yellow and green and slitted, her tiny teeth now jagged and sharp. Her once soft and silky brown curls have become a tangle of snakes and rattles and often she finds leftover shed skin floating around her as she moves about sluggishly, still unused to having the lower half of her body serpentine. She will never grow used to it, nor to the yearly visit of her deranged former friend. This is the only calendar Jennifer has, the yearly visit on the day she was cursed where Kali comes to gloat about how Ennis is hers and will never belong to a useless, ugly druid.

 

Mere days after Kali's two hundredth visit, Jennifer notices a ship at sea. It is unusual, as most know not to approach the cave she calls home, and more so for the Celtic markings on its mainsail. She never means to hurt anyone, it simply happens when they look at her. Jennifer hurries inside to hide, lest a shipwreck be added to the tally of her sins. Less than twenty minutes later a storm begins outside and Jennifer preoccupies herself with catching dinner as the rain causes fish to jump in her pools.

In the morning the sun breaks apart the last of the clouds. The storm had raged for many hours, causing the sea to toss and turn and flood enough of her cave that Jennifer had retreated to the furthest and highest parts. As she emerges to gather her breakfast, she notes a body lying on the semi-flooded rocks. Short black hair, soaked and torn clothes in a style that does not match Grecian customs and no audible breathing draw Jennifer closer. She rolls him to his back and is struck by his beauty. Tamping down on a flare of jealousy she checks for signs of life. A weak pulse has her both relieved and panicking. She tears a strip of cloth from his shirt and fastens it around his eyes so that he will not see her by accident before dragging him to the drier areas of her cave.

It takes all of her long-unused druid training to help him through his fever. It becomes clear the first time she sees him sprout claws and fangs in a fever dream that he, too, is a werewolf. Much as Kali and Ennis are, much their leader Duke is. Still she tends to him, holds him through the shivers and shakes and plies him with cold water when his skin burns. It is late evening when he gains consciousness, though he is still severely weakened.

“Don't.” She says, when he attempts to reach for his blindfold. “That blindfold is saving your life right now.”

“What...” He rasps, throat dry. Jennifer aids him to drink water from a soaked rag. “What happened? Who are you? I recall last a great storm when we were so close to docking, and a very large wave.”

“I am Jennifer. Your ship wrecked, I found you washed up inside my home.” Jennifer says “Lucky for you that I am well versed in the care of werewolves. We'll get you patched and you can be on your way back to your alpha.”

“That may be difficult,” He says “My alpha is still in Éire.”

“Unusual for a pack to send someone so far.” Jennifer says.

“I've come here for a reason. Though I cannot tell you why as I do not know you well enough to confide in you. I can however give you my name in return: Derek.” He says.

“Fair enough. In any case you must leave the bandage across your eyes. And stay in bed while you recover.” Jennifer says.

 

And in bed he stays. He allows Jennifer to treat him as he convalesces, and refrains from pulling at the bandage overmuch. He asks questions, what the day is like, had Jennifer ever been to Éire, how had she become so skilled at catching fish but not cooking them completely.

“Might I inquire as to where we are? It sounds as though we are in some kind of cave.” He asks one day.

“We are in one, I live close to the sea and far from other people.” Jennifer says.

“Might I ask why?” Derek asks.

“It's better for everyone this way.” Jennifer says, eyes tearing. It had been so long since anyone had bothered to care that the flood of emotions was unexpected and intense. She feels a hand on her shoulder and whips around, surprised. Derek is standing, albeit unsteadily, and has one hand reaching blindly for her, the bandage still across his face.

“What.. what are you doing?” Jennifer stammers.

“It is customary to offer comfort when someone smells of tears,” Derek states wryly “and I am not known for my skill with words.” He gently feels for her shoulders before guiding her to his chest. He simply holds her close, one arm around her waist and the other across her shoulders. Her snakes have coiled themselves high on Jennifer's head, wary of touch, as she leans her head close to his shoulder and lets the tears fall at last.

 

This marks a change in pattern. Derek now walks about the cave so long as Jennifer is there to ensure he will not encounter danger. He also begins touching her more, a small brush of fingers across hers as she hands him food, resting his hand on her arm as they walk around the cave. He asks why he hears no steps when she moves and she admits to not being entirely human. He grins wryly around a mouthful of fangs and tells her not to worry about being judged for it. Jennifer's comfort with him builds slowly until he is allowed to gently traces the lines of her face with his finger tips and carefully strokes some of her snakes, helping rid her head of another layer of shed skin.

One day, many months after his first arrival, she asks why he has not left yet.

“I have no idea where to go or how to recommence my original mission.” He admits “And besides, the company is good.”

“Is it alright if I ask what your mission is?” Jennifer asks.

“I was sent to observe a pack of alpha werewolves who seem to hold the secret to immortality.” He admits after a few moments. “They've lived over two hundred years and caused much devastation. My alpha is looking for information that might help us stop them.”

“Do you know their names?” Jennifer asks, heart rate escalating.

“Duke, Kali, Ennis, Ethan, and Aiden.” Derek says. “Do you know of them?”

Jennifer tells him everything she knows, every scrap of information. From the way their emissaries were borderline prisoners to the savagery of pack hierarchies and how she came to be cursed.

“This is... this is unsettling information.” Derek admits. “In Éire things are not done this way. We sometimes fight, yes, but never with such violence! We protect the towns we live in, we don't pillage and ruin them. And our emissaries are treasured, not enslaved! And one of your gods turned on you for no reason than bleeding near her shrine? This is... This needs to be stopped!”

 

Their chance to act comes only days later when Kali makes her two hundred and first yearly visit to shout at Jennifer from the mouth of the cave. 

“Oh, Jennifer.” She singsongs “Still around? Still pining hopelessly for someone you can never have? Someone who is _mine_.

“People don't belong to anyone.” Derek states.

“Ooooh, let me guess! You've found a poor blind man to keep you company? Guess it's a good thing you don't have legs anymore of you'd have overrun this place with horrid little monster babies by now with how easy you'd spread them.” Kali taunts.

Derek rushes the alpha, pulling her into the cave and forcing her to close her eyes to fight, lest she be affected by Jennifer's curse. Even so, it is a close call, and Derek does not strike the killing blow. In a moment when it looks like Kali has him pinned, Jennifer lashes out with her tail, sweeping Kali off of him, and towards the ocean. As Kali sails through the air she glances in shock at Jennifer and begins petrifying before she hits the water. Kali sinks quickly and does not resurface. 

Jennifer goes to check on Derek and finds him blinking beautiful green eyes at her. She stares in horror and waits for him to succumb to the same curse, but he only smiles.

“I knew you'd be pretty.” He says.

 

Jennifer wakes up the next day cold for the first time in two hundred years. She can feel temperature and it baffles and frightens her. She doesn't understand it, doesn't understand how Derek was immune to the curse, doesn't understand why he challenged Kali when she insulted Jennifer, doesn't understand why her scales _itch_ like crazy. What she does understand is that one of the alphas is dead, and the others will surely come to investigate her disappearance.

Sure enough, Ennis is there by day's end, looking for his wife. Jennifer and Derek have set a trap by which Derek will ambush him from outside and force Ennis into Jennifer's cave. It works well enough that Derek is able to land a killing blow, though not without sustaining heavier injuries this time. Derek's eyes bleed red at the same time his shirt soaks through with blood. Jennifer bandages his wounds and frets while he holds her hand, brushing his thumb over her pulse point. 

The next day he asks her to swim with him in the inlet. Ostensibly to clean themselves properly, though Jennifer sees a gleam in his eye that can only be mischief. A splashing fight is initiated and neither emerge victorious as they both end up soaked through. In the evening when Jennifer is shivering Derek piles her into the makeshift bed of rags he'd been using and curls up with her to keep her warm.

 

 

It takes two weeks for Ethan and Aiden to show. Two weeks of soft touches and smiles. Two weeks of Derek admiring her scales and the hard plates covering her body in the sunlight and helping her untangle her snakes at long last, helping her get the last bits of shed skin from her snakes, and trusting her to trim his hair and beard for him. Two weeks of lying curled together in the sun outside her cave while Derek keeps his ears open for anyone approaching. Two weeks in which Jennifer relearns how to be happy. 

But they do show at last, and even with handicapped vision Derek and Jennifer nearly don't survive the twins' onslaught. It takes Derek clambering on their combine back and prying their eyes open. The twins catch sight of Jennifer and begin to petrify. Stone creeps up their body and freezes them in place. Once they are solid, Derek hauls a large boulder over and smashes them to pieces before sweeping it all into the ocean.

That night they curl together under the full moon and Derek whispers his love into her ear before kissing her sweetly. He heeds the sharpness of her teeth, but does not avoid them when she opens her mouth to his questing tongue. They kiss and explore each other until Jennifer feels something poking her stomach. Derek blushes and apologizes, and lie together counting stars while they cool off. They drift to sleep with their hands entwined.

 

Jennifer wakes the next morning with her head pillowed on Derek's arm, her back pressed to his chest. The wind is blowing her curls up and tickling her face. Once Jennifer realizes that it is hair and not snakes she bolts upright and finds the closest reflective surface. Staring back at her from the water for the first time in over two hundred years is her own face. Pale skin with freckles and arched brows and blue eyes with round pupils and mounds of curling brown hair in desperate need of a comb. Her vision is obscured as tears gather, but she can not look away. 

Strong arms wrap around her nude body as Derek hooks his chin over her shoulder and holds her as sobs wrack her body. When she's calmed enough he gathers her in his lap and brushes her hair from her face with one hand. Looking over her puffy eyes, red nose and trembling lips he nods to himself.

“Still pretty.” He murmurs before kissing her. 

They gather what they can from the cave, fashioning clothes for Jennifer out of Derek's old shirt, some rags for a belt and foot coverings. They leave the cave that has housed them for so long and wander to a village Jennifer remembers nearby. Derek spends a few days doing manual labor and cheating at games of chance until they can afford better clothes and real shoes as well as enough provisions for the month long trek to Duke's villa.

Arriving at the sprawling estate, they find the place deserted. Servants and slaves have fled, leaving dust and dirt everywhere. Derek catches a pungent odor that leads them to a large bedroom. Duke's corpse lies in the bed, at least a month old, probably more. They scour the building for valuables, as well as information on what happened. Jennifer finds tomes in Duke's room, filled with plans to create a Gorgon using a false shrine of Athena and bind himself and his alphas to that Gorgon, granting them immortality until the curse is lifted. 

Grabbing the tomes and plenty of gold, Derek and Jennifer chart a ship back to Éire. Arriving in Derek's village, Jennifer is greeted almost as warmly as Derek and they are both badgered for an explanation, all had thought Derek dead with the amount of time he'd been gone. It takes hours to tell the story, weeks to correct false rumors. They meet with Talia, Derek's mother and former alpha, as well as a curious man named Deaton. They discuss the curse Jennifer endured and Deaton determines that as Gorgons are creatures of rage, when Jennifer began letting go of her hate she began to transition back to human, albeit slowly. And when she and Derek admitted their love for one another, the change happened faster as she became more accepting of herself. As for Derek's immunity to the Gorgon's gaze?

“Belief is a powerful thing, Jennifer.” Deaton says “It can lend curses power or take them away. I feel that Derek's trust and faith in you, combined with the fact that Gorgons are unknown in Éire meant that he believed you would never harm him, as opposed to those raised with such legends and as a result believe in the power of a Gorgon's gaze.”

 

Seeing as Derek returned an alpha, rather than the beta he left as, he and Jennifer were asked to move to a neighboring village that was having issue with bandit attacks. Derek's younger sister Cora followed them, to help Derek begin his pack with at least one reliable member. In addition he administered the bite to three youths, Isaac, Boyd and Erica. Orphans who needed the charity and would, in time, grow to be strong and loyal pack members. By the time the two hundred and second anniversary of Jennifer being cursed comes around, she's built a home, gotten married, and started a pack with someone she loves and trusts. The two hundred and third anniversary heralds the arrival of their first child, a healthy girl with black hair born at the base of an oak tree. They name her Blodwyn and she only sleeps regularly after Derek fashions a wooden rattle that mimics the sounds Jennifer's hair used to make.

**Author's Note:**

> For the rarepair repop I'm going to try and have a fic out on every Friday, and a drabble or two on Saturdays if I can manage. If anyone has a drabble prompt, feel free to put it in my askbox!
> 
> Come find me on [Tumblr](http://mnemmy.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
